In the wake of Apple's peculiar iPhone 4 Strikes Back! press conference, you'd be normal if you expected miffed competitors, especially after Jobs threw the likes of RIM, HTC and Nokia under the "Antennagate" bus. Now HTC is hitting back:

While not an official statement, HTC's Eric Lin, PR chief and online community manager, told Pocket Lint that the handsets singled out by Jobs and Co. during the Friday press conference (mssrs. HTC Legend, HTC Desire, and HTC Nexus One), are actually seeing a complaint rate that's less than the .55% figure allegedly enjoyed by the iPhone 4.

On the Eris especially, Lin told Pocket lint that "we have had very few complaints about signal or antenna problems on the Eris."

Backlash against Apple is nothing new, of course, even though it is only Sunday, a mere two days after it started raining bumpers. Nokia and RIM have both weighed in already, with their stern words arriving here yesterday, sternly.

RIM and Nokia have responded to Apple's claim that all smartphones have the same attenuation…
Read more Read more

And so the back and forth between several powerful corporations continues, with consumers somewhere in the DMZ between them, clutching maybe-definitely-not at all working cellphones with an incorrect grip against their quivering chests. If only there were some kind of trustworthy, independent, third party consumer reporting-type organization out there that could help us all out with our buying decisions! [Pocket Lint via Engadget]